While You Were Away: The Letter
by SobreSarita
Summary: Mindy finds a letter in Danny's nightstand. Multi-chapter.


Mindy stirs in satin sheets next to her snoring bedmate. It was their first time spending the night together so she wanted to look her best by the time Danny woke up. Danny thinks he is the morning person, but Mindy actually wakes up pretty early before work to start her routine. Today, at another person's place, she had none of her essentials.

Mindy quietly dragged open the drawer on the nightstand on her side of the bed to see if Christina left behind any mascara at the very least. With the light from her charging cell phone, she could see a letter addressed to her from Danny. Never one to pass up a chance to open interesting looking mail, she took it into the kitchen nook to read in proper light.

The address was her mail center in Haiti. _Oh my God, I came back early! He must have never had to send this. _She liked the idea of getting a glimpse into whatever trivial office matters he got worked up about in the past.

Her brain created a natural Danny Castellano impression.

"Min,

Thanks for the recommendation, she loved the movie. I am glad to hear things are going well with Casey, but I still have my worries sometimes. He seems like a chapter, not a plot. This is my fifth draft of this letter now, so trust that I've made no mistake when I say the following.

I met you in residence and I hated you. I thought you were self-involved and young-minded. That's not my point here, though. After a couple years in close quarters, you sparked my interest (academically) and I followed you and looked in on your surgeries. And you were like an artist. Mindy, you were so good at your job. I watched you fall apart in your social life, yes, but I knew you were a smart woman when it came down to it. Little by little, I developed a bit of a crush on you. I was _infatuated_. I finally built up the courage to ask you for a drink at the club, the one that was in my old bank, and you turned me down for someone you thought was better. I spent Thanksgiving alone that year, hung around the office, hoping your night would be ruined and you would come to the practice like you sometimes do.

But I stayed alone and it hurt me. By no fault of your own, of course. It wasn't until Christmas time when I cancelled a date to be with you, like a fool, and I saw you get your heart broken. _Josh was such a piece of work_. In California I tried to stop him from being able to hurt you again, but you wouldn't listen. I never wanted you sad.

And for this Casey guy, you were attacked in a prison and then asked to convert and then asked to move to a developing country after just a few months. For such a "selfless" guy, he's very, very selfish, Min. Despite what you may think of me, I'm not so full of myself to say that I am better or more deserving of the time that you have. But I've seen you with so many of these guys that allow you to make them your entire life. I don't want that. I just want you.

I'm not sure what would have happened the night of your goodbye party if you said nothing. I think you knew all this. I think you knew."

Below the typed letter were his stamped name and address with his signature in blue pen.

Mindy scoffed in disbelief. Years. He's wanted her for years. She flipped over the letter, desperate for more but there was nothing else. Mindy looked over through the doorway at a sleeping Danny.

She turned off the lights and whispered sharply in the bedroom, through the darkness. "Danny. Dan-nyyy."

He woke up slowly and then shot up to see her standing over him. "What are you doing?" He scratchily yelled. She sat down by his knees, setting the letter down on the nightstand.

"Have you felt this way a long time? I read your like super dramatic letter and that was all I could glean." She tried to play off her invasion as a charming quirk.

He sat up, face to face with her. "I just– for a long time I thought I just wanted to be _like_ you. But I think I learned that I wanted to be the one… _with_ you."

"Oh Danny you were jealous?" She attempted to seem unsurprised and tickled his stomach. He swatted her hand away.

"I wasn't jealous!" He continued, "but it wasn't until you spent the night here that I realized I wanted – I wanted – I realized that I loved you." Mindy's smile grew and he still continued, speaking into darkness, "I think I was about to brush my teeth and I noticed you used my toothbrush and I wasn't angry, Mindy. All I could think about was buying an extra one to put… in there next to mine."

She leaned in to kiss an uncharacteristically bashful Danny. "I love that you said that."

"You're not gonna add anything to that?" He whispered this, grumbling into her lips.

"I'm sorry I slapped you so many times. It was Chloe, not me." She leaned in, pecking at his neck.

"Yeah?" He knew that she knew what she should say, but he was fine with settling for neck kisses.


End file.
